Fix the possessive and plural errors in this estate litigation brief — including tricky names ending in S, irregular plurals, and plural possessives.
This paragraph from an estate litigation brief is riddled with possessive and plural errors. The writer confused plurals with possessives, mangled names ending in S, and made other apostrophe mistakes.
Your task: Rewrite the paragraph with correct possessives and plurals.
Key rules to apply:
Names ending in S:
- Singular possessive: Add 's → "Mr. Jones's estate" or "James's car"
- Plural of a name: Add es → "The Joneses" (the Jones family)
- Plural possessive: Add es + apostrophe → "The Joneses' house"
Irregular plurals:
- "Children" is already plural → possessive is "children's" (NOT "childrens'")
- Same for: women's, men's, people's
Plural possessives:
- Words ending in s: just add apostrophe → "the lawyers' arguments" (multiple lawyers)
- Compare: "the lawyer's argument" (one lawyer)
Common traps:
- "The Jones family's fortune" (family as unit) vs. "The Joneses' fortune" (the family members)
- "Wife's consent" (one wife) vs. "Wives' consent" (multiple wives)
- Don't add apostrophes to simple plurals: "the documents" not "the document's"
Fix every possessive and plural error while keeping the meaning intact.
Complete the exercise and submit for Write.law feedback